The invention relates to a terminal for electrical installations, particularly for applied computer science, having a contact member which can be moved in a housing and which, under the force of a spring, can be pressed against a guide for a conductor which is open in the direction of the contact member, the contact member being part of a leaf spring which is held in the housing and is provided with an opening which is arranged in such a manner with respect to the guide for the conductor that an edge is used as the contact member and can be placed against the conductor.
Terminals with actuating keys are known. As a rule, these consist of a U-shaped component which surrounds a guide duct for the conductor and, by way of the leg facing away from the key part, forms the contact member which, under the force of a spring, is pressed into the guide duct for the conductor for contacting it.
The manufacturing of such constructions requires relatively high expenditures. Mainly, they will no longer allow any reliable contacting when the diameters of the conductors become very thin, which is particularly the case in applied computer science and communications technology. The space requirement of the known construction is also relatively high. Therefore, if a large number of connections is required, which is the case in communications technology, the space requirement for such terminals will become considerable.
A terminal of the initially mentioned type is also known (U.S. Patent Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,638). There, a leaf spring is provided which is clamped on one side into a housing opening and which has an opening (or a recess) whose upper edge, as the contact member, rests in a clamping manner against the conductor which, on the other side, is held on the wall of a guide in the housing. Since, in this type of construction, only an opening for the guiding-through of the conductor is provided, it becomes necessary to clamp the end of the leaf spring which is not provided with the opening fixedly in the housing.
The invention is based on the object of developing a terminal of the initially mentioned type in such a manner that, while the space requirement is low, it can also be used for the secure contacting of thin conductors.
For achieving this object, the leaf spring of a terminal of the initially mentioned type is provided with rectangular apertures which are arranged below one another in an aligned manner. The leaf spring is placed in a curved shape on the guide for the conductors such that one of the apertures is used as a clamping member for fastening the leaf spring on the guide for the conductor, and an edge of the other aperture forms the contact member. The curved leaf spring is inserted between the bottom of a shaft in the housing and an actuating key. This embodiment is extremely simple. However, it permits the implementation of relatively high contact pressures since, as a result of the use of a leaf spring, high elastic forces are available and the contact member only has a small contact surface. This embodiment is therefore advantageous particularly for contacting thin conductors which are also held securely in terminals according to the invention.
The construction is particularly advantageous if, as a further development of the invention, the conductor guide, in each case, consists of two parallel strip profiles which are provided with an approximately V-shaped cross-section and which are connected with a connection contact. The leaf spring can be clamped in a simple manner by its aperture on these strip profiles. A conductor placed in the conductor guide can, on the one hand, be perfectly contacted with the edge of the second aperture forming the contact member, but, on the other hand, can also be fixedly pressed into the V-shaped indentation of the strip profile and can be held there.
In the case of this embodiment, it is advantageous as a further development of the invention to provide the actuating key with plug-in openings for the conductors to be connected which are aligned with the longitudinal direction of the strip profiles. No additional space is therefore required transversely to the actuating direction of the actuating key.
In a further development of the invention, the leaf spring may be constructed in one piece with a second leaf spring and may be provided with a separating cut extending between the strip profiles. Despite the arrangement of only one leaf spring part, this construction also allows the contacting of conductors of different diameters, which naturally would also be possible when two leaf springs are used for the two strip profiles forming the conductor guide. However, the latter construction would require higher expenditures with respect to the manufacturing as well as with respect to the mounting.
In a further development of the invention, the connection contact may be constructed in one piece with the strip profiles and may be provided with at least one detent for the locking on the housing. This permits a relatively simple manufacturing.
In this case, the connection contact may be constructed as a solder lug projecting out of the housing. However, it may also be provided with two contact studs for the direct plugging of printed circuit boards, in which case these contact studs may also be arranged at 900.degree. or at 180.degree. with respect to the longitudinal direction of the conductor guides, that is, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the strip profiles. This measure permits the plugging-in of printed circuit boards also at an angle with respect to the plug-in direction for the conductors. Finally, as a further development of the invention, the housing may be provided, on the side opposite the actuating key, with a plug-in opening for the counterplugging of conductors which are aligned with the conductor guides.